“I know, but—”
“Allie, listen. Let’s get this out of the way right now, okay?”
“Oh, hell. Wendy, I didn’t mean—”
“I know you didn’t. I just want to set the record straight. I’m strong as a horse. Honestly, I am. I spent years in rehab. I still do hours of exercise each day. I can walk. I can carry stuff. I can do anything I want….” Her mouth twisted. “Anything but ski.”
Her voice broke on the last word. Horrified, she covered it with a cough. She’d only meant to let Alison know that she could handle the truth, but her emotions were right there on the surface. Well, why wouldn’t they be? The long flight, too much sitting still, and under it all, the persistent worry that the surgeon she’d come so far to see wouldn’t help her….
Alison was looking at her as if she didn’t know what to expect next.
Wendy smiled. “You know what?”
“What?” Allie asked cautiously.
“How about we get out of the snow? That terrific haircut’s getting plastered to your head.”
“Yeah. Good idea.” Alison cleared her throat. “So,” she said briskly, “you up for a stop at the Barn?”
“The…?” Wendy looped her free arm through Alison’s. Dipping their heads against the wind, they crossed the roadway and headed for the parking lot. “You mean the Burger Barn? Is it still there?”
Alison clucked in dismay. “Is it still there, she asks. Certainly, it’s still there, only a ten-minute detour on our way to town. Of course, you’re probably not into juicy, charcoal-broiled hamburgers and hot, crisp, salty fries after all these years of gourmet dining in gay Paree, but I thought, if there was the teeniest possibility that you were interested…”
“Gourmet dining?” Wendy laughed. “Not on a teacher’s salary. If I never see another hunk of cheese or sausage, it’ll be too soon.”
“You mean Mademoiselle DuBois was wrong?” Alison unlocked the car door and Wendy tossed her things into the back seat. “I thought it was supposed to be fromage and saucisson—much more exotic sounding.”
“Cheese and sausage are cheese and sausage, whether it’s French or English,” Wendy said. “Trust me.” She shut her door and looked at Alison, who was buckling her seat belt. “The Burger Barn would be paradise. Just tell me that the fries are still greasy.”
“Cholesterol City,” Alison said cheerfully.
“Does a straw still stand up in a chocolate shake?”
“Scout’s honor, nothing’s changed.”
“Great,” Wendy said, but in her heart, she knew that everything had.
* * *
ALISON TOOK THE LONG WAY home.
It was a pretty road that wound into the Taconic Mountains before they fell away into the more subdued contours of the Berkshires. The scenery, at least, was still the same. Cozy old houses, rolling pastures, deep forests mantled with white, and everywhere the sense that time had reached this place and decided to pause for a while before moving on.
Wendy sighed and laid her head back. “I’d forgotten how peaceful it is here.”
“Peaceful’s the word, all right.” Alison raised an eyebrow. “On the other hand…”
“What?” Wendy looked at her friend. “Something exciting happened in Cooper’s Corner?”
“Well…yeah, you could say exciting.”
“Don’t tell me. Let me figure it out.” Wendy put on an innocent look. “Philo and Phyllis Cooper decided to give up gossip.”
Alison laughed. “I said `exciting,’ not `unbelievable.’“
“Well then, you’ll have to tell me. What new and exciting stuff happened?”
“Well, Bonnie Cooper—remember her? Bonnie was on a date with a guy in New York and they witnessed a mob hit.”
Wendy sat up straight. “You’re kidding!”
“Cross my heart, it’s the truth. Oh, and we had a visitor go missing, too.”
“Somebody hiking in the fall?”
“No, it wasn’t like that. This was a guest at the B and B, and he—”
“What B and B?”
“Remember the old Cooper place? Twin Oaks?”
“Sure. Big house, up on the hill across from the green.”
“Uh-huh.” Alison glanced in the mirror, signaled a turn. The sound of the engine deepened as they started up a hill. Ahead, the red taillights of a snowplow blinked hypnotically in the haze of the falling snow. “Old man Cooper died and left the place to his niece and nephew. A sister and brother from New York. Well, originally they were from around here.”
“From Cooper’s Corner?”
“Yeah. They moved away when they were kids. Anyway, they came up to see the house, and the next thing anybody knew, they’d kicked out of their old lives and moved here. Caught most people by surprise, especially when they turned Twin Oaks into a B and B.”
“I can’t believe my parents haven’t mentioned any of this. But wasn’t the house in bad shape?”
“Not anymore. Clint and Maureen have done wonders. New paint, new wallpaper, and they found a load of old furniture in the attic that just needed cleaning and polishing.”
“And that did it? Fresh paint, old furniture and a good cleaning?”
“Well, no. There was more. Bonnie did the plumbing.”
“Good for her.”
“Yeah, I said that, too. She put in new bathrooms, did some stuff in the kitchen….”
Wendy tried to concentrate, but it was hard. They were approaching a traffic light that marked an intersection whose claim to fame was two mini-malls, one on either side of the road. The Burger Barn was a couple of miles past them.
Minutes after that, they would reach Cooper’s Corner.
Her heart gave a little lurch. She was almost home, and nothing that really mattered had changed. The roads were the same, and when they got to town, it would be the same, too. The village green, with its bronze Minuteman standing eternal guard; Main Street and its bundled-up tourists, eager to soak up what they saw as an authentic bit of New England. The windows of the little antique and crafts shops would still be bright with Christmas displays, even though the holiday was over.
The traffic light went from green to amber. The car slowed to a stop and a small knot of people crossed to the mall on the opposite side of the road. Wendy stared out the window. It was hard to identify anyone. People were hunched into their coats, ducking their heads against the snow. Not that she was searching for anyone in particular. Not that she was looking for—
“…Seth,” Alison said.
“What about him?”
She thought she’d spoken calmly, but from the way Alison looked at her, she knew she hadn’t quite pulled it off.
“Oh, honey, I’m sorry. I was so busy trying to bring you up to date on what’s been happening that I… Just forget I mentioned him, okay?”
“Allie, there’s no problem. Come on. What were you going to say?”
“Just that Seth did the carpentry at Twin Oaks.”
“Seth is a carpenter?”
“A really good one. And it turns out he’s got a talent for building